What is the Easiest Language to Learn?

This is one of the most popular questions for language learners, especially when they first start learning a new language.

There is nothing wrong to choose something easier to start. Because we all have a serious problem in life — — we don’t have enough time.

But language learning is a huge time and financial investment. By learning an easier language, our investment return rate (aka fluency) is higher, it also gives us more confidence to attempt another language in the future?

So, what is the answer?

I guess you already knew the answer: IT ALL DEPENDS.

Your mother tongue, your other languages and your motivation will affect how fast you pick up a language.

What makes a language easy to learn

1/ Your mother tongue

The rule of thumb is how closely the target language related to your native language.

If your target language is similar to your mother tongue, the good chance is both grammar, syntax or vocabulary will be quite similar, so you don’t have to start from scratch.

For example, French words made up 50% of the English words. For any fluent English speakers, you will find it easier to learn French than Mandarin.

2/ Your other languages

It works the same wonder as your mother tongue. For example, if you learnt some Italian, you are already familiar with the sentence structure and grammar for other latin language, such as Spanish, which made it so much easier for you to pick up.

Also, as this is your second language, you learnt how to LEARN a language, for instance, grammar rules and vocabulary, it gives you a sense of awareness how to learn another language as well.

3/ Your Motivation

This is the most important factor in learning a language.

No matter how easy a language is, if you don’t have any motivation, undoubtedly, you will find it extremely difficult to move forward.

For example, Spanish is said to be the easiest language to learn and I am quite fluent in English, but as I don’t have any drive to learn it, once it hits the difficult parts, I felt like dragging myself on the mountain.

Learning a language is like hiking on a mountain — it has its ups and downs. Only your drive to learn will push you through all the steep hills along the way.

Given all things equal, what are the easiest language for fluent English speakers?

This is a much more specific question. We will assess it in terms of writing, speaking, reading and listening.

1/ Spanish

Spanish pronunciation is a piece of cake for English speakers because all the vowels only have a particular sound. Most words are written as pronounced. Thus reading and writing are quite straightforward and no tricks involved.

The sentence structure is quite similar so it made it easier to learn.

• The apple is red
• La manzana es roja

It follows ‘subject+ verb+ object’ rule, which is exactly the same as in English. That’s one of the reasons Spanish is a very popular language among English learners.

2/ Italian

Italian is considered as the most ‘romantic’ language among all romance languages. The sound is its magic.

When you speak Italian, its like singing a song because most words end with a vowel. Just like Spanish, many of the Italian words are written as pronounced, which gives extra bonus to pick up this language.

3/ French

If Italian is a romantic language, then French is the international language of love.

Vowel sounds and silent letters made French slightly more difficult than the above languages. The good news is modern English words made up of one third of French words so you are not starting from scratch. Most English speakers will be familiar with some French words already. Just to name a few, cafe, royal, encore. It reduces lots of hassles to learn more vocabulary.

Now it’s up to you…

There are a lot of languages in the world. Due to its variety and degree of difficulty, learning a new language is like Indiana Jones exploring a brand new land — full of adventure and challenges.

Choosing a language that is related to your mother tongue will make learning less hassles.

But at the end of the road, it all comes down to your motivation.

Are you ready for a new language?